"Thus it is said that one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Afghanistan: “Yak team Wahed” – One team united in Afghanistan

By Army
National Guard Spc. Nicole Newton

Tennessee
National Guard

KANDAHAR
AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – “Yak Team Wahed.”

That saying
had special meaning to us as our interpreter, Wahed, bridged the language gap
and made it possible for NATO soldiers to communicate and work seamlessly with
Afghan soldiers.

We seldom
hear of the successful tandem efforts between the Afghan National Army and
their coalition counterparts but that afternoon we had the opportunity to see
it. That is exactly what this mismatched group was – one team united.

As we drove
up to a portion of the base I’ve never been to, the tall barricades and iron
gates blocked the view of where we would be spending the next few hours with
the ANA.

The tall,
slender Air Force tech sergeant turned to me and said, “We’re on red in this
area, so you if you want to, you can go to red.” He said it so calm and cool as
if he were giving me options for lunch, but what he meant was “you might want
to lock and load your weapon in this area.”

Although the
team of U.S. and European soldiers visits twice a week to train the ANA,
staying vigilant is a must. I swiftly slapped my loaded magazine in the well as
we walked through the iron gates into the Afghan compound on Kandahar.

We were a
small medley of multinational forces, led by a local interpreter whose friendly
and cheery demeanor made any nervous feeling I had dissipate quickly. I looked
around, amazed at the flowers, palm trees and landscaping, my only experience
of this country has been brown dirt and broken gravel.

We made our
way further into the compound until we arrived at a mechanic style garage with
a large white school bus sticking halfway out of it. One of the ANA soldiers
sat parked in the driver’s seat and waved as we walked inside to visit for the
day. On the other side of the open garage, a Humvee with a dead battery sat,
and outside the garage, a large generator out of commission.

I watched
out of the corner of my eye as the large group of ANA soldiers swiftly broke
apart and traveled from one item to the other, deciding which puzzle to work on
first. They were scurrying around with bright eyes, like children at the park
who take the decision of which jungle gym to play on first very seriously.

Army Spc. Farlance
Breece, a maintenance specialist, works with these soldiers twice a week and
happily told of his temporary duty to train and work with the ANA. He spoke of
his new comrades with warmth, as he talked about their curious nature and
ingenuity.

The soldiers
started teaching the ANA soldiers how to properly maintain and repair their
vehicles and equipment just a few weeks before our visit, but it didn’t take
long for them to catch on.

“Most of
these guys have learned this stuff from their fathers so we just show them new
ways to do some things and teach them more complicated things,” Breece said.
“They are very smart, they catch on fast.

“Today we
changed the oil in a Blue Jay bus and looked at an up armored Humvee. We tried
to do battery repair but ran out of battery acid.”

The problem
solving skills that Breece spoke about became visible as two ANA soldiers snuck
off for a few minutes and reappeared with a large bucket of clear liquid.

“They found
more battery acid,” Breece said with a chuckle, “I don’t know where they got it
from but they found more and there they go,” he said, pointing to the pair
hovering over the old battery, funneling acid to give it new life.

After the
two maintenance items for the day were complete, the ANA decided to keep the
momentum going and brought in the rest of their vehicles for oil changes.

“Look
they're [pre-checking and servicing] the vehicles on their own now,” said Pfc.
Jonathan Raines with a pleasant surprise.

Both
Soldiers said working with the Afghan Army has been a positive experience for
both forces.

“It’s one of
the high points of my week,” Raines said. “I really enjoy working with them;
they all have a sense of humor. Even if I don’t understand what they’re saying,
it’s still entertaining.”